Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers recorded remarks at the Pentagon near Washington D.C., March 20, 2025. (Madelyn Keech/U.S. Air Force)
Grants aimed at eliminating carbon emissions by warships, diversifying the Navy, and developing equitable artificial intelligence are among $580 million in spending cuts announced recently by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“I need lethal machine learning models, not equitable machine learning models,” he said in a video posted Thursday on the Defense Department’s website, showing him signing a memo directing the cuts.
The deleted programs, grants and contracts do not align with the priorities of President Donald Trump or the department, Hegseth said.
“In other words, they are not a good use of taxpayer dollars,” he said. “Ultimately, that’s who funds us, and we owe you transparency and making sure we’re using it well.”
The announcement came a day after CNN reported on proposals to consolidate some of the nation’s combatant commands and cancel a planned restructuring of U.S. Forces Japan.
A Pentagon briefing document cited by the news outlet said consolidating four commands could save about $330 million over five years. The annual defense budget is about $800 billion.
The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees pushed back, saying significant changes to the command structure would be unacceptable without congressional input.
“[W]e will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress,” Rep. Mike Rogers and Sen. Roger Wicker said in a news release Wednesday.
Trump has given Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, broad authority to cut personnel and spending across the federal government, including the Pentagon.
“At the DOD, we’ve been working hand-in-hand with the DOGE team,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted March 3.
The Pentagon plans to eliminate 50,000 to 60,000 civilian jobs as part of the initial wave of budget reductions.
The largest contract cut announced Thursday was for a human resources software development program, Hegseth said. The program was expected to take one year and cost $36 million but has instead taken eight years, ran $280 million over budget, and failed to deliver its intended service, he said.
“So, that’s 780% over budget,” he said. “We’re not doing that anymore.”
The Pentagon is also canceling contracts for external consulting services, including $30 million for unused information technology licenses, Hegseth said.
The department is cutting $360 million in grants, he said, including:
• $6 million for decarbonizing emissions from Navy ships
• $5.2 million for diversifying the Navy
• $9 million for a university project developing “equitable AI and machine learning models”
The cuts bring total Pentagon savings to $800 million in recent weeks, Hegseth said.
The savings will ensure troops have what they need, he added.
“They’re working hard,” he said. “We’re working hard with them. We appreciate the work that they’re doing, and we have a lot more coming.”
